Thursday, 19 February 2015

Goodbye Marion - Rest in Peace

I got a nasty shock when I was reading through the latest copy of the Old Students' Newsletter. A girl who was the same course as me appeared in the obituary column!

Marion died in a horse riding accident in the summer of 2014. When she didn't return from her daily ride her family went looking for her, they quickly found her horse and then a few minutes later they found Marion's body. How dreadfully sad for them!

Marion and I were very different types of people. She drove a BMW (as a student) and lived her life in a social whirl. She had a wide circle of friends scattered around the country and most weekends she seemed to be going off to posh events. I had few friends (at least for the first two years) and even less money thanks to the Local Authority being so totally useless.

I don't remember working in the same group as her in the science practical sessions so I never really got to know her well. But I can remember feeling quite jealous of her life style. The only time I saw her shocked and disappointed was when the final degree results were published. She only got a Lower Second Class degree which, to my amusement, was a worse degree than I had managed to get.

The last time our paths crossed was the day before graduation day. She was in her car and I crossed the road on a zebra crossing on the university campus and so she had to stop to wait for me. I don't recall seeing anything else about her in the newsletter until this sad item.